Tenacious D — Winooski, VT (9/28/01)
April 10, 2009
01. Pre-Show P.A. Sounds
02. intro
03. Land of the Lost
04. Fat Albert
05. Warning
06. Jesus Ranch
07. Kielbasa Sausage
08. History of Tenacious D
09. Dio
10. The Road
11. Lee
12. Cosmic Shame
13. Saxaboom (Toy)
14. G&R
15. Karate
16. Kyle Quit the Band
17. Kyle Took A Bullet
18. Rocket Sauce
19. Fuck Her Gently
20. Sasquatch
21. Tribute
22. Blow Job(Video)
23. Rock Your Socks
24. Double Team
25. Encore/Crowd
26. Flash
27. Wonder Boy
28. Beatles Medley
29. Post Show P.A. Sounds
Phil Spector on “Be My Baby” and The Wall of Sound
April 10, 2009
You know the song. It’s been featured in two of Scorsese’s classic movies, Mean Streets (seen below) and Goodfellas. Using his state-of-the-art “Wall of Sound”, Phil Spector (pre-insanity?) was able to give a very unique and unmistakable sound to the tracks (especially the percussion) he produced from 1961-1966. Spector elaborates:
“I always had ideas for the drum sounds that were different each time. There were times when Hal Blaine would sit for hours, and never play a lick, and/or wait outside the studio while I would get everyone else sounding the way I wanted; I would build instruments by instruments, adding them slowly, on top of each other, with the drums being last. And many times, if I couldn’t get the right drum sound, at the end of the session, after hours and hours of work, I would cancel the session, even though we had worked four or five or more hours.
“The drum sound I had in mind came about fairly quickly this time, albeit many hours after getting a ’sound’ on all the other musicians. I had the echo in place on everything else, and Gold Star’s echo was a nightmare to handle, as it changed from minute to minute. If someone moved, the echo would change, like the wind. So everyone had to remain as stationary as possible (much to their dismay), or the echo would change the sound I was trying to get. So when Hal Blaine would walk back into the room (because he wouldn’t be sitting there the entire four hours), nobody could move a microphone, and he couldn’t brush up against anyone, or anyone’s microphone. Unlike Motown’s studio echo, which was consistent, Gold Star’s was not.
“But on the day of ‘Be My Baby,’ the echo sounded real good, and more importantly, consistent. You can hear how consistent it is, on the ending of the recording, when I told Hal to solo on all the breaks and fills, which I thought would be very sexual to add to the sound of the recording. The echo was excellent that day: in particular, the echo from the overhead mike, which picked up the bass drum beautifully and filled the room up, which is why I decided to use it (the bass drum) as the intro. Normally, the bass drum beginning the recording would not have been loud enough, or big enough, and I worried if it would be loud enough to sustain the band coming in after it until the day the record was released.”
Bob Marley — “So Much Things To Say”
April 10, 2009
“I’ll never forget no way, they crucfy Jesus Christ”. From Santa Barbara, November 1979.
Jerry Garcia Band — “Tangled Up In Blue”
April 10, 2009
Classic performance of a classic Dylan song. From 9/1/90 Shoreline.
Ray Charles — “Mess Around”
April 10, 2009
Easily one of the best vocalist of the 20th century, Mr. Ray Charles.
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)
April 10, 2009
Two days ago marked the fifteenth anniversary of the finding of Kurt Cobain’s body in his Lake Washington, WA home. There are several theories as to what happened leading to the singer/songwriter’s apparent suicide. Here’s a site in which the private investigator hired by Courtney Love the week before Cobain’s death discusses the suspicous circumstances surrounding the case. It’s an interesting read whether you’re a conspiracy nut or not. Additionally, here’s a piece Rolling Stone published in their Smoking Section where Dave Grohl disucusses the band’s Unplugged appearance that occured 6 months prior to Cobain’s death in April 1994.
Dave Grohl told us the amazing back story behind Nirvana’s November 18th, 1993, MTV Unplugged, which is finally getting a DVD release this month. The guys in Nirvana were not blown away by the Unpluggeds they’d seen. “Most bands would play their hits like they were at Madison Square Garden, except with acoustic guitars,” Grohl remembered. “We thought, ‘Rather than do an acoustic version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” let’s call the Meat Puppets, let’s see if we can learn this Bowie cover.’ ” But the Unplugged rehearsals were an utter disaster. “Kurt would turn to me and say, ‘Can you play quieter?’ Eventually I said, ‘Do you want me to just split?’ I was barely touching the drums.” Salvation came from Unplugged producer Alex Coletti, who handed Grohl a pair of Pro-Mark Hot Rod drumsticks (made from bundled pieces of wood). “We ran through a song, and Kurt’s face lit up,” Grohl said. “Those sticks saved the entire show.” Grohl is still haunted by the performance. “Before he sings the last note on ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?,’ for that split second Kurt has a look of fear that still freaks me out,” he told us.
“Where Did You Sleep Last Night” from the 1993 Unplugged performance. The expression Grohl speaks of is at the 4:40 mark.
Click here to download a Nirvana show that occured just over a month prior to Cobain’s death. And for good measure, here’s how ole Kurt Loder remembers the whole thing going down 15 years ago.
Will we see him on tour?
